Long Beach Police: Baby Eliza De La Cruz’s death part of suspects’ pregnancy scam

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Long Beach police Chief Robert Luna, right, announces the arrest of four people in connection with the kidnapping and murder of 3-week-old Eliza De La Cruz, pictured at left, in Long Beach, CA on Wednesday, March 25, 2015. Behind Chief Luna are Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia, left, and detective Lloyd Cox. Giseleangelique Rene D'Milian, Anthony McCall, Todd Goudreaux and Charisse Shelton were arrested in the kidnapping and murder of De La Cruz on January 3, 2015. (Photo by Scott Varley, Daily Breeze)

Long Beach police on Wednesday, March 25, 2015 announced the arrest of four people in connection with the kidnapping and death of 3-week-old Eliza De La Cruz. These sketches above were released to the public on Wednesday, March 18, 2015.

LONG BEACH >> Long Beach police say a woman conspired to kidnap two babies — 3-week-old Eliza De La Cruz from Long Beach found dead in January and a 4-month-old baby boy from El Segundo — in a scam to fool her boyfriend into believing she had giving birth to the couple’s twins.

Police believe Giseleangelique Rene D’Milian, 47, of Thousand Oaks and Anthony McCall, 29, of Oceanside kidnapped De La Cruz first, then a month later tried to kidnap a 4-month-old baby in El Segundo.

They also believe the suspects may have tried to contact other mothers as part of an elaborate plot to kidnap infants. The hunt for more victims continues.

D’Milian was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of murder, kidnapping, attempted murder and conspiracy, according to police. McCall also was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of the same charges. Two other suspects — 44-year-old Fontana resident Todd Boudreaux and 30-year-old Corona resident Charisse Shelton — were arrested Wednesday on suspicion of accessory after the fact, police said. Shelton is D’Milian’s daughter.

All suspects are expected to be arraigned Friday in Long Beach Superior Court.

D’Milian told her boyfriend last year that she was pregnant with his twins even though she wasn’t pregnant, Long Beach Police Chief Robert Luna said during a news conference Wednesday. D’Milian’s boyfriend is married and has children, Luna said. The family resides in California but no other details about the boyfriend were made available.

“She told him that she gave birth to his children in December of 2014 while out of the country,” he said. “Based on our investigation, D’Milian never gave birth to any children last year and, in order to continue with this deception, she needed to produce two children who matched the ages of her fabricated twins.”

D’Milian plotted with McCall to kidnap Eliza and pass her off as her own child, Luna said. The investigation moved slowly at first because injuries Eliza’s family sustained in the kidnap-related shooting prevented them from communicating clearly with investigators. When they were physically able, after their release from the hospital, they provided police with further details.

Detectives learned that Eliza’s mother rode a public bus home on Jan. 3 and that D’Milian and McCall followed the bus in separate vehicles. Eliza and her mother exited the bus around 4:15 p.m. at Del Amo and Long Beach boulevards. D’Milian stopped the Range Rover she was driving and spoke with Eliza’s mother, who thought nothing of the conversation, Luna said.

Eliza’s body was found Jan. 4 in a Dumpster in Imperial Beach, a San Diego County city near the international border with Mexico.

The suspects “discarded her like a piece of trash,” alleged Long Beach Lt. Lloyd Cox. Authorities are not releasing details about Eliza’s death.

“The reason baby Eliza was killed remains unknown,” Luna said. The case remains under seal with the San Diego County Office of Medical Examiner.

Long Beach police later learned that the El Segundo Police Department was investigating what turned out to be a related assault case, Luna said. El Segundo officers joined LBPD in the news conference.

El Segundo police responded to a call of unknown trouble around 1:48 a.m. Feb. 6 at a hotel in the 2000 block of East Mariposa Avenue in El Segundo, El Segundo Police Chief Mitch Tavera said. The officers found a 23-year-old woman severely beaten with a baseball bat inside a hotel room.

“Officers also located the victim’s 4-month-old son inside the same room,” Tavera said. “(McCall) had fled the scene after employees knocked on the victim’s door.”

Hotel guests called for help after hearing the woman yelling for help from inside the room, he said. The beating was investigated as an attempted murder case because of its severity.

In mid-February, the two agencies realized they were pursuing the same suspects and a joint investigation began, Tavera said.

“Detectives determined D’Milian knew the El Segundo victim for several years and was aware she recently had a child,” Luna said. “The woman was specifically targeted because of the child’s age and because D’Milian knew where to find her.”

She plotted to have McCall kill the baby boy’s mother and take the baby, he alleged.

Last week, Long Beach police released the sketches of two people they said were wanted in connection with the case. The sketches led to new witnesses coming forward, and eventually to the four arrests.

Luna said authorities still need the public’s help because the kidnapping and death of Eliza, and the attempted kidnapping of the baby boy in El Segundo are not D’Milian’s only attempts to snatch children for her plot.

“D’Milian misrepresented that she had a charitable organization; that she wanted to help young mothers and their infants,” Luna said. “We believe (she) contacted other friends and acquaintances to try and find infants. Anyone who may have received a phone call or a text message (from D’Milian), or any type of information is urged to come forward and talk to our detectives.”

Luna thanked his detectives, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, El Segundo police, FBI and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors for their assistance in the investigation.

He believes a $25,000 reward offered by the board for information in the case was a significant incentive.

“People came forward and provided us the exact same names of suspects that El Segundo had been working,” Cox said. “Then the pieces really started falling into place for us.”

Anyone with information on the suspects is asked to call homicide Detectives Donald Goodman or Mark Mattia at 562-570-7244.

Anonymous tips can be made to 1-800-222-TIPS (8477), by text message to 274637 (CRIMES) with the letters “TIPLA” followed by the information or by going online to www.lacrimestoppers.org.